A New York City
woman who went missing while vacationing alone in Istanbul was found
dead yesterday Saturday February 2nd, and police were questioning 11 people in connection
with the case, Turkey's state-run news agency said.

Sarai Sierra,
a 33-year-old mother of two, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day
she was to fly home. Her disappearance attracted a lot of interest in
Turkey, where the disappearance of tourists is rare, and Istanbul police had set up a special unit to find her.

The state-run Anadolu Agency
said the body of a woman was discovered Saturday evening near the
remnants of ancient city walls and that police later identified it as
Sierra's.

South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe has donated half of his $2.65 billion to charity. The beneficiary is the Motsepe Foundation, which was founded in 1999 by
the billionaire and his wife, Precious."I decided quite some time ago
to give at least half of the funds generated by our family assets to
uplift poor and other disadvantaged and marginalised South Africans.

"I was also a beneficiary of various people, black and white, in South Africa
and in the US who educated, trained, mentored and inspired me and whose
faith and belief in me contributed to my success in my profession,
business and elsewhere. The same can be said about my wife, Precious,
and we are deeply indebted to them and many more.

"Most of our
donations have been private, but the need and challenges are great, and
we hope that our Giving Pledge will encourage others in South
Africa, Africa and other emerging economies to give and make the world a
better place." Motsepe said

Giving Pledge is a campaign founded by Bill Gates and Warren
Buffett in 2010, which encourages wealthy people to donate their
fortune to charity. As of
November 2012, 91 billionaires - mostly Americans, have committed to
the pledge. Motsepe is the first African to do this...but I have a
strong feeling that Dangote or Adenuga will be the next. Just watch!
*Yimz* Hehe!

Article written by Reno Omokri - Special Assistant ( New Media) to the President.

Some emergency activist DID NOT leave the PDP until they failed to get
what they wanted. Being frustrated doesn't make you a progressive!

Their narcissism is evident when they make an article that probably refers to them in passing all about them.

Their vanity is evident when they criticize everything in government and the past as bad except what they achieved.

See more after the cut...

They claim to be critics but their intolerance comes to light when
others criticize them as their paid social media activists go on
overdrive to attack you.

They know what they are doing to the future of youths desperate for
attention. Their own children are there but won't be used for such
attacks.

Look at the Timelines of their kids and that of their paid attack dogs.
They reserve slave work for their hired hands and the honorable for
their kids

After sending other people's kids on blasphemous errands they shift the blame on them when the stuff hits the fan.

Those kids blinded by acceptance they may never have gotten at home
don't realize their futures are tainted by the voice of Jacob and hand
of Esau show they put up.

They use desperate for attention kids to insult religious
leaders/political enemies while their own kids show respect in
preparation for honorable future roles.

Watch their language out of power. It is so intemperate that the
unbiased objective bystander wonders what they will do if given power.

Why wait until they lost out in power to come and say the 'truth'?
Patriots don't wait until they are out of power before speaking the
truth. Truth is constant. It doesn't become truth only when you lose
out.

KWAM 1's mistress, Titi Masha, gives birth to a baby girl

Titi Masha gave birth to a baby girl yesterday 2nd February in a
hospital in Chicago, USA. Titi and K1 De Ultimate are kinda like
family...but they are now proud parents of a baby girl! Congrats to them

Missing American mother of two found dead in Turkey

A New York City
woman who went missing while vacationing alone in Istanbul was found
dead yesterday Saturday February 2nd, and police were questioning 11 people in connection
with the case, Turkey's state-run news agency said.

Sarai Sierra,
a 33-year-old mother of two, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day
she was to fly home. Her disappearance attracted a lot of interest in
Turkey, where the disappearance of tourists is rare, and Istanbul police had set up a special unit to find her.

The state-run Anadolu Agency
said the body of a woman was discovered Saturday evening near the
remnants of ancient city walls and that police later identified it as
Sierra's.

The agency said she was found
with a head wound and a blanket near her body. She was wearing jeans, a
jumper and a jacket, and still had her earrings and a bracelet.

Police reached by The Associated Press refused to comment on the case.

Sierra, whose children are 9 and
11, had left for Istanbul on Jan. 7 to explore her photography hobby and
made a side trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Munich, Germany. She
had originally planned to travel with a friend, but ended up traveling
alone when her friend canceled.

She was in regular contact with
friends and relatives, and was last in touch with her family on Jan. 21,
the day she was due back in New York. She told them she would visit
Galata Bridge, which spans Istanbul's Golden Horn waterway, to take
photos.

The body was found not far from the bridge and near a major road that
runs alongside the sea of Marmara. Here tourists often photograph
dozens of tankers waiting to access the Bosporus strait.
On Saturday, police stopped traffic there as forensic police inspected the area.

Anadolu suggested Sierra may have been killed at another location and
that her body may have been brought to the site to be hidden there.

At least 11 people were being questioned in Istanbul, Anadolu said,
and a police official at the site told journalists that two of them were
women. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to reporters about the case. Earlier, Anadolu had
said nine people were detained.

It was not clear if a Turkish man Sierra had exchanged emails with
during her stay in Istanbul was among those being questioned. He was
detained for questioning Friday, then released. Turkish news reports
said Sierra had arranged to meet the man on Galata Bridge, but he
reportedly told police the meeting never took place.

Shortly after her body was discovered, a woman came forward and told
police she had seen a white car parked near the city walls as she was
driving there the night of Jan. 29, Anadolu reported. She said a man was
trying to remove "something" from the car.

"At that moment, I noticed a woman's hand," Anadolu quoted the woman
as telling reporters after talking with police. The agency said she
declined to give her name.

Sierra's husband, Steven, and her
brother, David Jimenez, traveled to Istanbul to help search for her.
Sierra's mother, Betzaida Jimenez, said Saturday that she couldn't talk
about the case when reached in New York.

Shortly after Sierra was reported
missing, Turkey set up a special police unit which scanned hours of
security camera footage in downtown Istanbul in search of clues. A
Turkish missing persons association joined the search, handing out
flyers with photos of Sierra and urging anyone with information to call
police.

While break-ins and petty
thievery are common in Istanbul, the vast and crowded city is considered
relatively safe compared to other major urban centers. Sierra's death
was unlikely to have a significant impact on tourism, a large component
of the Turkish economy.

In 2008, an Italian artist, Pippa
Bacca, was raped and killed while hitchhiking to Israel wearing a
wedding dress to plead for peace. Her naked body was found in a forest
in northwest Turkey. A Turkish man was sentenced to life in prison for
the attack.

Henderson moved from boyhood club Sunderland for €18.4 million in
2011 but struggled in his first season, and has said those experiences
have helped him improve as a player.“I don't think what's happened will have done me any harm. I think I might have needed it, to be honest,” he told The Guardian. “You
will get criticism throughout your career. All the best players have
had it at some stage and they haven't let it ruin their careers. I won't
either.”Henderson also said that the biggest challenge when he
moved to Liverpool was stepping up to match the ability of his more
illustrious team-mates like Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez. He
added: “It was just different. When I was at Sunderland I didn't think I
was the star or anything but here you have people like Stevie and
[Luis] Suarez and Pepe Reina and Carra [Jamie Carragher], who have been
the best players for many years. “And straight away, you have to
try to match their ability. It was a step up, a challenge. I felt I was
playing well at times, just not on a consistent basis which is what you
have to do at Liverpool.“That's what I needed to get my head
around the most: that I had to do it all the time, not just
occasionally. When you come to a club like Liverpool you need to perform
straight away and consistently.“Looking back, I don't think I
did that. There were games when I thought I'd played well. It just
wasn't every single week and that isn't enough for a club like
Liverpool. I needed to learn that.”Now, the man who has won five
caps for England and travelled as part of the Euro 2012 squad believes
manager Brendan Rodgers has been key in his improvement this season.He
said: “OK, it might not have gone to plan at the start, but I knew I
could turn around and get it right. I knew I just had to take it on the
chin. “Even though I wasn't in the team, I felt that if I kept
going, kept working hard, kept fighting, I would get my chance again,
and that I would take it.“The manager's been brilliant with me, to be fair. He's told me the things I need to work on and how I can get better. “He's
looked back on previous games and talked to me about the things I can
improve tactically, how I can be more disciplined, the positions I take
up. “I feel as if I've done that now. I'm still working on it but I feel I'm doing better now.”

Often a controversial figure during his time in England, Suarez has
been making headlines for the right reasons this season, notching 17
goals in 23 Premier League appearances.The former Ajax man added
to his tally for the season in Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Arsenal and
Mancini is well aware of the threat his defence will face.“Suarez for me is a top player,” the Italian told reporters. “I like him because he is strong and he works hard.
“For me, he is one of the best in England. I like his quality. He has quality and he is strong.”
Mancini was quizzed on any potential interest in the player at the
end of the season, with the reigning Premier League champions weakened
in attack following the sale of Mario Balotelli to AC Milan, but refused
to be drawn on the matter, stating "he is a Liverpool player".

The two have forged an impressive early understanding in Brendan
Rodger's side and Sturridge believes it can only get better with time."It’s early days but the signs are that we’re playing well together. I’m sure that will continue,” he told The Telegraph."As
you play with someone more regularly, you do things telepathically, you
know where they’re going to be and you start playing off the cuff.”Sturridge
returns to Manchester City on Sunday hoping to prove a point to his old
employers after he left the club for Chelsea in 2009.While he
showed potential and promise at City and then Chelsea, the 23-year-old
believes we will now finally see what he is capable of after a fine
start to his Anfield career."It’s always a weight off your shoulders if you start quite well," he added. "It
has been a good start. I’m hard on myself and I like to do a lot better
than I am doing. There’s a lot more to come from me. I’ve been
performing OK but this is a fraction of what I’m actually able to do."Hopefully
I’ll be able to show what I’m really capable of doing in the months and
years to come, when I’m playing week in, week out and I’m fully fit."

The reigning Premier League champions' title defence has
stuttered this season largely due to their strikers, while the Uruguayan
has been excelling for the inconsistent Reds

It is hard to believe that Manchester City might covet anything that Liverpool currently possess, despite the Reds' illustrious and oft-referenced honours list.City have a Premier League title, a lucrative
modern ground, a transfer kitty which dwarves their domestic rivals'
and one of the most well-stocked squads in European football. And yet,
when they host Brendan Rodgers's men on Sunday afternoon, they will know
that three points are far from certain - largely thanks to the presence
of Luis Suarez amongst the opposition.

Even during their 23-year
league title drought, the Merseyside club have always seemed to boast
at least one world-class striker amongst their ranks. This season,
Suarez has proved that he is no different to the likes of Robbie Fowler,
Michael Owen and Fernando Torres in that regard, by putting in a string
of inspirational performances and plundering 17 Premier League goals. Unfortunately, all this has come for a wildly
inconsistent team whose challenge for a Champions League spot has
failed to truly spark. For that reason, City could be forgiven for
looking on longingly at the Uruguayan's contributions and opining that
they would be of more use at a club with title aspirations, such as
themselves.

Roberto Mancini's side could certainly do with the
help. They find themselves 10 points adrift of rivals Manchester United
at the top and, most tellingly, five points short of their own total
last season after the same amount of games.

The reasons for this
are clear, with City having posted four more draws and one fewer loss
than last season at the expense of three wins. The champions may have
defended just as impressively as during the opening 24 games of the
2011-12 campaign, having conceded just 19 goals, but the absence of 18
goals in the 'For' column in comparison is indicative of the root of
their decline.

Under normal circumstances, such season-to-season
fluctuations might not matter. But, when your biggest rivals have added
the Premier League's deadliest marksman and, by virtue of that, five
points to their own tally, then the ramifications are clear.

Of
course, United's improvement is not the sole cause for this swing, with
the idea that City have been somewhat 'worked out' this season becoming
increasingly plausible. Put frankly, the champions can occasionally look
predictable, are too often caught playing the game at right-angles and
could be accused of adhering to an overly formulaic structure.

These are the sorts of adjectives which could
never correctly be applied to Suarez, a player who embodies spark,
ingenuity and other such exciting superlatives when he steps across the
white line. That he has attempted over two-and-a-half times more
dribbles (188) than City's most prolific ball-carrier, Sergio Aguero,
(70) perfectly indicates the individual brilliance that the 26-year-old
brings to the table.

And Liverpool fans know better than most
that the forward's barely believable mastery of the art of the nutmeg is
not just showy inefficiency. Allying this to a clear-cut-chance
conversion rate of 54 per cent whilst creating 10 such chances so far
this season - a pair of statistics that are unmatched by his City
counterparts - is proof of the substance which underpins the style.

To
have done all of this whilst playing in a team who, with respect, boast
less talent among their ranks than those clubs fighting for the title
is truly remarkable. And, whilst it may not boost Suarez's chances of
winning any Player of the Season awards at the end of the campaign (his
controversial personality may prove enough to rule out that notion) it
is certain to keep his stock high amongst managers, like Mancini, who
may be on the prowl for a striker come the summer.

That said, on Sunday at least, City will hope not to be given a reminder of that on which they are currently missing out.

The controversial Italian was subject to one of the prolonged
transfer sagas of the January window and eventually left on the last day
of the month, moving to AC Milan for a fee believed to be around the
£20 million mark.

The 22-year-old had endured a tough first half
of the season with the Citizens, managing a paltry return of three goals
in 20 appearances as he struggled to feature ahead of Sergio Aguero,
Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez.

Johnson, whose Liverpool side face
Balotelli's old team tomorrow, clearly feels this was the right decision
for Manchester City, as he voiced his belief that the other strikers at
the club will produce on a more regular basis.

"No, I don’t
think City will miss ­Balotelli, they have got some fantastic players
and they’ve got a lot of players who will score a lot more goals than
Mario did. I’m sure they won’t miss him too much," he told reporters.

“I’m
not being disrespectful to the guy, everyone in the country knows what
he’s like. On his day, he can be a great player, but City have got other
great players who do it a lot more often and score more goals than
him."

Balotelli's discipline issues were well-documented during
his time in England - he picked up 11 yellow cards last season - and
Johnson also suggested that Balotelli had something of a propensity
towards petulance.

"Mario winds himself up, you don’t need to do too much as an opposition defender," he continued.

“We
all have our faults, but Mario let his side down with silly red cards
and stuff like that. He’s a great player, but we didn’t see that
enough.”

Missing American mother of two found dead in Turkey

A New York City
woman who went missing while vacationing alone in Istanbul was found
dead yesterday Saturday February 2nd, and police were questioning 11 people in connection
with the case, Turkey's state-run news agency said.

Sarai Sierra,
a 33-year-old mother of two, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day
she was to fly home. Her disappearance attracted a lot of interest in
Turkey, where the disappearance of tourists is rare, and Istanbul police had set up a special unit to find her.

The state-run Anadolu Agency
said the body of a woman was discovered Saturday evening near the
remnants of ancient city walls and that police later identified it as
Sierra's.

The agency said she was found
with a head wound and a blanket near her body. She was wearing jeans, a
jumper and a jacket, and still had her earrings and a bracelet.

Police reached by The Associated Press refused to comment on the case.

Sierra, whose children are 9 and
11, had left for Istanbul on Jan. 7 to explore her photography hobby and
made a side trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Munich, Germany. She
had originally planned to travel with a friend, but ended up traveling
alone when her friend canceled.

She was in regular contact with
friends and relatives, and was last in touch with her family on Jan. 21,
the day she was due back in New York. She told them she would visit
Galata Bridge, which spans Istanbul's Golden Horn waterway, to take
photos.

The body was found not far from the bridge and near a major road that
runs alongside the sea of Marmara. Here tourists often photograph
dozens of tankers waiting to access the Bosporus strait.
On Saturday, police stopped traffic there as forensic police inspected the area.

Anadolu suggested Sierra may have been killed at another location and
that her body may have been brought to the site to be hidden there.

At least 11 people were being questioned in Istanbul, Anadolu said,
and a police official at the site told journalists that two of them were
women. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to reporters about the case. Earlier, Anadolu had
said nine people were detained.

It was not clear if a Turkish man Sierra had exchanged emails with
during her stay in Istanbul was among those being questioned. He was
detained for questioning Friday, then released. Turkish news reports
said Sierra had arranged to meet the man on Galata Bridge, but he
reportedly told police the meeting never took place.

Shortly after her body was discovered, a woman came forward and told
police she had seen a white car parked near the city walls as she was
driving there the night of Jan. 29, Anadolu reported. She said a man was
trying to remove "something" from the car.

"At that moment, I noticed a woman's hand," Anadolu quoted the woman
as telling reporters after talking with police. The agency said she
declined to give her name.

Sierra's husband, Steven, and her
brother, David Jimenez, traveled to Istanbul to help search for her.
Sierra's mother, Betzaida Jimenez, said Saturday that she couldn't talk
about the case when reached in New York.

Shortly after Sierra was reported
missing, Turkey set up a special police unit which scanned hours of
security camera footage in downtown Istanbul in search of clues. A
Turkish missing persons association joined the search, handing out
flyers with photos of Sierra and urging anyone with information to call
police.

While break-ins and petty
thievery are common in Istanbul, the vast and crowded city is considered
relatively safe compared to other major urban centers. Sierra's death
was unlikely to have a significant impact on tourism, a large component
of the Turkish economy.

In 2008, an Italian artist, Pippa
Bacca, was raped and killed while hitchhiking to Israel wearing a
wedding dress to plead for peace. Her naked body was found in a forest
in northwest Turkey. A Turkish man was sentenced to life in prison for
the attack.

A
bizarre Cristiano Ronaldo own goal - the first of his career - handed
the hosts a fairytale lead, when the winger's attempted clearance of a
corner glanced wrongly off his head and flew into Diego Lopez's net.Karim Benzema had the opportunity to cap off a los Blancos
fightback at the death, but shockingly side-footed wide from
point-blank range to summarise a miserable outing for the Spanish
champions."When we win and everyone plays well it's the result
of self management, but when we lose it's the responsibility of the
coach," an irate Mourinho thundered at reporters. "So we didn't play
well today, we weren't ourselves, so now I'm the one responsible."We
didn't manage a draw, and the result bothers me. It bothers me also
that in the first half we were terrible, and, even if we tied in the
second half, there would have been very little to be satisfied about."The
50-year-old found fault with Barcelona again, citing the Liga leaders
as having an extra day to recuperate after their Copa del Rey encounter
on Wednesday night."It's been clear for a long time that teams
do not have control of their calender. It was a huge and physically
exhausting game on Wednesday, yet one team plays today, while the other
plays tomorrow. It has always been the case," he continued caustically."A few of our players who played today were tired, because they worked tremendously in the full game against Barcelona. "But
I don't know why there were others who played today and were tired, yet
they were either on the bench, or in the stands, on Wednesday."Mourinho's
season with Madrid has become dogged with frequent public run-ins with
his squad, leading to rumours of him losing the support of his players
growing in number.

Barcelona defender Dani Alves complained about racist insults
after Wednesday's Copa del Rey semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu, and
Callejon has revealed that the Brazil international is not the only
player in La Liga who has to deal with the matter.

"Real Madrid
is one of the clubs that has been on the receiving end of the most
racist insults. It has happened to us and it is a problem that cannot be
completely stamped out," the versatile attacker said at a press
conference.

"It happened to [Kevin-Prince] Boateng in Italy and
it is a matter of serious concern which we all hope will die out one day
once and for all."

Fifa president Sepp Blatter recently stressed
that national football associations should punish racism harshly,
saying that deducting points and relegating a team would be a good
sanction.

United currently lead rivals City by seven points as they gear up
for a month which sees them take on Real Madrid away, as well as
throwing up domestic clashes with Fulham, Everton, Reading and QPR.

Yet
although Sir Alex Ferguson's men enjoy a commanding lead at the top of
the table, Mancini is in no mood to give up hope just yet, having seen
his team dramatically claw back an eight-point deficit in the final six
games of last season.

"When we arrive at the end of February, the gap will be very, very small," he told reporters.

"In
every championship, never has one team won a title in January. We
should fight until April. If they have seven, eight, nine points in
April it could be difficult. But in this moment we have a big chance.

"Every
team during the season has two or three weeks when they don't play
well, when their performances go down and they don't score.

"Even
if you have fantastic strikers, like the situation we had last year,
there were some moments when we scored three or four goals a game but
then didn't score for three or four games and we didn't know why.

"It could be the same for them now."

On
Sunday City face a challenge of their own as they take on Liverpool at
the Etihad Stadium, and Mancini took the opportunity to praise his
opposite number, Brendan Rodgers, who almost became his assistant three
years ago.

"I talked with him but for me it was easier to take
David [Platt] because I played with him, I knew him very well and David
spoke Italian," he added.
"I was impressed with Brendan. I met him in Milan. I spoke about him
with our chief scout [the former technical director Mike Rigg] and also
with Garry Cook [the former chief executive].
"He impressed me because he knows his football very well, he showed
he is a good manager in the last two years. I'm not surprised he went to
Liverpool because he's a good manager."

The
Brazilian enjoyed immense success during a six-year spell at the
Italian side but has struggled to leave a lasting impression in the
Spanish capital, leading many to believe that there was a possibility
that he would make a return to Milan.

However, Galliani has spoken out as to why the projected move failed to come to fruition.

"The story about Kaka is a closed chapter for me," he told Corriere dello Sport. "Real Madrid wanted €18 million - a figure that given his age and salary demands made a deal frankly unthinkable."

While
Madrid's asking price may have been steep for a 30-year-old who has had
multiple injury problems, €18m would still represent a massive loss on
the €68m that los Blancos paid for the Brazil international in 2009.

The Rossoneri may
have missed out on Kaka, but they signed Mario Balotelli from
Manchester City for an estimated €19m in an attempt to give them more
attacking options as they attempt to challenge for a Champions League
place.

Mali knocked out co-hosts Gabon at the same stage of the
2012 tournament — also after a shootout following a 1-1 draw — and have
now reached the semi-finals six times in eight appearances.

Mali goalkeeper, Soumbeyla Diakite saves 2 penalty kicks

South
Africa made two changes and Mali one from the teams that clinched
qualification for the knockout phase with draws against Morocco and the
Democratic Republic of Congo respectively in final group games.

France-born
Mali coach Patrice Carteron also had to make an enforced change with
goalkeeper Diakite coming in for banned Mamadou Samassa, who picked up
two cautions in the three-match pool phase.

This was only the
second Cup of Nations meeting between the countries with hosts Mali
overcoming South Africa 2-0 in a 2002 quarter-final that featured
then-rising star Keita.

South Africa trooped off the field at
half-time with a deserved 1-0 lead before a capacity 60,000 crowd at
Moses Mabhida Stadium in this Indian Ocean city thanks to a goal on 31
minutes from lone striker Rantie.

Mahlangu pounced on the Malian
clearance of a long kick from goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, drove forward
and passed to Thuso Phala, whose cross left unmarked Rantie with the
simple task of tapping the ball into the net.

It was a mixed
opening half for the Sweden-based scorer as an early run into space
produced a shot superbly smothered by Diakite, but he was yellow carded
on 40 minutes and had to go off injured before half-time.

Mali did
not figure much as an attacking force, bar a sizzling edge-of-box shot
from former Barcelona midfielder Keita that flew over, but reminded
Bafana Bafana (The Boys) of the power in his left boot.

Wide
midfielder Samba Diakite, a reluctant participant as he wanted to help
the relegation struggle of English Premier League outfit Queens Park
Rangers, retired injured midway through the first half with Sigamary
Diarra coming on.

The cagey nature of the game continued into the
second half until 33-year-old Keita stunned the crowd on 58 minutes with
a close-range header from a Mahamadou Samassa cross that entered the
net off the right elbow of Itumeleng Khune.

South African nerves
were frayed and they almost gifted the visitors a second goal soon after
when Samassa intercepted an under-cooked back-pass from Gaxa and Khune
had to dash off his line and make a brave block.

Veteran journalist Ayo Ositelu buried

Pall bearers for Ayo ositelu before the burial today

Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta
The
body of the former Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area
and a veteran sports journalist, Deacon Elijah Ayodele Idowu Ositelu
was committed to mother earth at exactly 2:00 p.m Saturday at the
Ositelu House (Oluwaseyi Mansion) at Ogere- Remo in Ikenne Local
Government Area of Ogun State, southwest, Nigeria.

Pall bearers for Ayo ositelu before the burial today

Ositelu
died on Wednesday 9 January, 2013 few hours after watching Nigeria
Super Eagles in a friendly match against Cape Verde national team in
Faro, Portugal. He was 69 years old.
Delivering a sermon at the
thanksgiving service held at the open ground of the Ositelu Memorial
College, Ode-Remo road, Ogere- Remo, the officiating Minister,
Archbishop John Ogunsile J.P said that Nigerians should not mourn the
deceased rather they should “celebrate the good life our man had spent
on earth to the benefit of mankind and the glory of the Lord.”
The
clergyman, who titled his lecture, ‘Levity of Life’, took his sermon
from the book of Samuel 39 verse. 4-6 and Job 9 verse 12. He asserted
that every soul will die one day, but warned that people should all
strive to be of good character before their death.

Leke and Oyinkansola Ositelu with their mother, Aribike Ositelu

L-R,Prof Bukky Ositelu,Bababunmi and Obajimi Ositelu

In
separate tributes to the late Ayo Osilelu popularly called Arena,the
Council of Reverends in which he was one of them stated that, “death has
snatched a rare gem from us, we guess you might have played your own
part. You came, you saw and by the grace of God, you conquered.”
Mr
Ademola Dada, President of the Island Club described the deceased as a
complete gentleman who have been of great inspiration to all that came
his way. He said: ”We are consoled by the assurance of almighty God that
He will wipe off our sorrow. Although, you are no longer with us, God
will comfort your family and all of us who are mourning you today”.
His classmates at Igbobi College, Lagos: Set 58-62 said they are still in shock with the death of their friend and colleague.
Speaking
on behalf of the deceased classmates, Sir Segun George said: “We don’t
believe Elijah Joe, as we fondly called him when we were in school, had
died. We spoke few days before his death on our plans to celebrate the
50th anniversary of our graduation from the school. We have even set up
a Committee in which he was one of the members. Now he has gone. We
love him, but God loves him most”.

Mrs Fashola at the burial

The
wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola described the
death of Arena as a great loss not only to Nigerian sports but to the
nation at large.
”It is a mistake to say that Nigerian sports has
lost this man, the entire nation is mourning this great man and I
believe that his legacies will leave after him,” Mrs. Fashola said.
The
first wife of the deceased, Prof.(Mrs Bukky Adefule Ositelu described
her late husband as a brother and a multi talented man who used his
talent positively. She added that his late husband started his sojourn
in journalism on the hospital bed.

Ayo Ositelu: Goodnight

According
to her, “he was a multi talented man who maximized his God-gifted
talent very well. He started his journalism work on the hospital bed
after he had an appendix operation. I was with him on the bed after the
operation and he said, he wanted to start writing for The Punch
newspaper. He dictated his first article to me. We later sent it to the
newspaper and it was published. That was how he started writing till
death dropped the pen from his hand”, she recounted.
Ositelu was
survived by wives, Prof. Bukky Ositelu and Mrs Aribike Ositelu and seven
children, Morayo Ositelu, Bisayo Muhammed, Obajimi, Eniola, Bababunmi,
Leke and Oyinkansola Ositelu.

Fire Guts Lotto Office in Ijebu Ode

Fire
said to have been sparked by a faulty air conditioner gutted a lotto
office in the western Nigerian town of Ijebu Ode in Ogun state.

The
Lotto office sat on the popular Ibadan Road and belonged to the Ijebu
business magnate, Chief Kessington Adebutu, a.k.a. Baba Ijebu.

The Lotto office in Ijebu Ode

People watched helplessly as the two-storey building burnt, until the fire service men arrived.

Witnesses
said the fire caused pandemonium in the area as many of the staff were
seen jumping down to the rescued hands of the sympathisers outside.

According
to one witness:”we were inside the bank when suddenly we were asked to
move out that there was a fire outbreak at the building beside the bank.
We all ran outside to see people on the main road and serious gridlock
had occurred.

“Some boys were seen jumping down from the building
and people were rescuing them but I can confirm to you that there was no
casualty as at this time because all the workers inside were saying
nobody remained inside the building again”, he disclosed.